Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens  is a musical that tracks the lives of two mother/daughter socialites (the aunt and cousin to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) as their lives fall from glittering, wild extravagance to seclusion in a crumbling estate overrun by cats. As the mother is left bedridden, and her daughter comes to grapple with the loss that has left them destitute, the pair try to reconcile their relationship and missed opportunities. As hilarious as it is tragic, the musical was nominated for numerous Tony and Drama Desk awards, as well as a Grammy nomination for its enrapturing score. Grey Gardens  is a heartfelt musical wrought with humor, wit and compassion- with book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel, and lyrics by Michael Korie, based on the 1975 documentary of the same name.

Cast

 * Lisa Johnson as Big Edie
 * Wendy Placko as Little Edie
 * Steve Lawler as George Gould Strong
 * Lara Akal as Young Little Edie Beale
 * Jordan Fields as Jackie Bouvier
 * Kyra Reverman as Lee Bouvier
 * Dan Stephans as Major Bouvier
 * TBA as Brooks
 * Eli Aronson as Joseph Kennedy Jr./Jerry

Crew
Directed by Stage Managed by Produced by Set by Costumes by Lights & Sound by Props by
 * Mishia Edwards (Director)
 * Katie Hagaman (Music Director)
 * Grace Muth (Stage Manager)
 * Kosmo Esplan (Assistant Stage Manager)
 * Jared Zeigler (Producer)
 * Todd Edwards (Set Designer)
 * Dinah O'Sullivan
 * J.J. McNulty (Lighting Designer)
 * Mishia Edwards (Props Team)
 * Kosmo Esplan (Props Team)
 * Grace Muth (Props Team)

Auditions
The Guild Theater and director Mishia Edwards are excited to see performers for  Grey Gardens  in late January/early February. Actors will be seen the evening of  Wednesday, January 29  or the afternoon of  Saturday, February 1, with callbacks the afternoon of  Sunday, February 2.

Actors should prepare to sing a song (not from the show) no longer than two minutes long, and may be asked to read from the script by the director.

Performances

 * Friday, April 17, 2020 at 7:30 P.M. (Opening Night Reception)
 * Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 7:30 P.M.
 * Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 2:00 P.M. (Post-Show Discussion)
 * Friday, April 24, 2020 at 7:30 P.M.
 * Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 7:30 P.M.
 * Sunday, April 26, 2020 at 2:00 P.M.

Venue: Northfield Arts Guild Theater, 411 Third Street West, Northfield, MN

Tickets:
 * $18.00 for adults
 * $13.00 for seniors/students

Act I
"The Girl Who Has Everything" "The Girl Who Has Everything" (Reprise) "Itty Bitty Geisha" "The Five-Fifteen" "Mother Darling" "Goin' Places" "Marry Well" "Hominy Grits" "Peas in a Pod" "Drift Away" "The Five-Fifteen" (Reprise) "Daddy's Girl" "The Telegram" "Will You?"
 * Recording of Big Edie
 * A recording of Big Edie from the 1940s that transitions from the Act I prologue into Scene #1
 * Little Edie
 * Sung quickly by Little Edie to herself
 * Big Edie, Jackie, Lee
 * A song that comes during "The Five-Fifteen" when Jackie and Lee want Big Edie to sing, so she has Gould accompany her
 * Big Edie, Gould, Brooks, Jackie, Lee
 * A song depicting everything that needs to be prepared for Little Edie and Joe's engagement party and how Big Edie's husband Phelan will be arriving at Grey Gardens at 5:15 P.M.
 * Little Edie, Big Edie, Gould
 * Sung when Little Edie discovers Big Edie will be singing nine songs at her engagement party; soon Little Edie, Big Edie, and Gould all try to get a word in
 * Joe and Little Edie
 * Joe describes to Little Edie how he hopes to become senator some day and how he plans to
 * Major Bouvier, Brooks, Jackie, Lee, Little Edie
 * While talking golfing, Major Bouvier tells Jackie and Lee to marry two well-respected men
 * Big Edie, Gould, Jackie, Lee
 * A very racist song and one of Big Edie's "freedom" songs sung by her and Gould in front of Brooks
 * Little Edie, Big Edie
 * Little Edie finds this song on her engagement party brochure and cheers Big Edie up by singing it
 * Gould
 * Gould sings this to Big Edie when he tells her he's thinking about leaving Grey Gardens
 * Big Edie
 * Sung quickly to Phelan's portrait when Big Edie worries about his arrival
 * Little Edie, Joe
 * After Big Edie tells Joe about "Body Beautiful Beale", Little Edie tries to convince him that she is her "daddy's girl"
 * Little Edie
 * A sung version of the telegram that Little Edie receives from Phelan
 * Big Edie
 * The Act I finale that Big Edie sings to invitees of Little Edie and Joe's engagement party

Act II
"The Revolutionary Costume for Today" "The Cake I Had" "Entering Grey Gardens" "The House We Live In" "Jerry Likes My Corn" "Around the World" "Choose to Be Happy" "Around the World" (Reprise) "Another Winter in a Summer Town" "The Girl Who Has Everything" (Reprise #2)
 * Little Edie
 * A song telling about Little Edie's new costume that she loves
 * Big Edie
 * Big Edie reflects on her life and the "cake [she] had"
 * Gould, Young Little Edie, Major Bouvier, Jackie, Lee, Brooks
 * All the singers of this song appear as cats in Grey Gardens, singing about the uncleanliness of the estate
 * Little Edie, Recorded Singers
 * Little Edie sings to Jerry a previously recorded American song that she's been working on
 * Big Edie
 * Jerry loves Big Edie's corn, which she finds delightful
 * Little Edie
 * Little Edie rants about Jerry moving in and everything dreadful about her life, though she intermittently settles down
 * Norman Vincent Peale, Sister Marla
 * A song played on the radio that Big Edie listens to while Little Edie packs up to move
 * Little Edie
 * A fast reprise of the song
 * Little Edie, Big Edie
 * Little Edie decides not to move away when Big Edie calls for her
 * Recording of Big Edie
 * The final song played shortly on Big Edie's record player

Characters
Edith "Big Edie" Beale, (née Bouvier) Edith "Little Edie" Beale Note: The actress who portrays Big Edie in Act I also plays Little Edie in Act II
 * The determined but sometimes hostile mother of Little Edie who doesn't want anybody to move away from Grey Gardens and, as said by Major Bouvier, is "an actress without a stage"
 * Big Edie's daughter that wants to make it to Broadway or the motion pictures, though she is pulled back by her mother and fiancé Joe

Note: The actress who portrays Little Edie in Act I also plays Sister Marla in Act II, a nun on Norman Vincent Peale's radio show

George Gould Strong J.V. "Major" Bouvier Jacqueline "Jackie" Bouvier
 * Big Edie's accompanist and "soulmate" who continuously has to resolve an argument between her and Little Edie
 * Big Edie's stern father and the grandfather that teaches his granddaughters Jackie, Lee, and Little Edie to "marry well"
 * Note: This actor also plays Dr. Norman Vincent Peale in Act II, a radio celebrity that Big Edie and Little Edie listen to daily
 * One of